Bullock Creek grad Ryan Robinette and Beaverton alum Brandon Evans joined the Saginaw Sugar Beets summer baseball team hoping largely to improve their skills and have some fun doing it. Now, following the Beets' highly successful inaugural season, both players are a mere three wins away from playing for a league championship.

"Honestly, I think we're just an all-around great team. Our pitching comes up (big) when we need it, and we have some really big sticks in the lineup. We just had six guys named to the all-league team," noted Robinette, whose Sugar Beets will face the Lima Locos in a win-or-go-home wild card game to open the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League postseason tonight in Lima, Ohio.

"I think this team meshes well and plays well together, and that really helps," he added.

Evans agreed that the Beets are on a nice roll heading into the postseason.

"We started out (the season) kind of slow, and we weren't used to how everyone played," Evans said. "But when we hit that seven-game winning streak (in June), that helped us to get to where we are now. ... The guys we're playing with are a great group of guys. They know a lot about baseball, and so do the coaches."

Saginaw (24-16-1) went 7-2-1 over its final 10 games of the regular season, while the Locos enter the postseason at 26-16. The winner of tonight's game will face the Northern Division-leading St. Clair Green Giants (26-16) in a best-of-three division championship series from Wednesday through Friday. If the Sugar Beets win tonight against Lima, they will host the second game of the division series against St. Clair on Thursday at Saginaw Valley State University.

In tonight's other wild card game, the Cincinnati Steam (30-12) will host the Hamilton Joes (22-20), and the winner of that game will take on the Southern Division-leading Southern Ohio Copperheads (30-10) in the divisional round.

The two division champions will meet in the best-of-three league championship series, which begins Saturday.

Robinette, who will be entering his junior year at Lawrence Tech University, said he is not entirely surprised by the Beets' immediate success.

"I think we have some pretty good players, and people have kind of underestimated us, I guess," he said.

So far this summer, Robinette has played a multitude of positions, including second base, third base, shortstop, and outfield, and has even pitched 2 2/3 innings. At the plate, he is batting .327 with 34 hits, a home run, 19 runs batted in, 30 runs scored, and nine stolen bases. Asked if he is happy with how he has played, he replied, "Absolutely, yeah."

"One of the biggest things I wanted to work on was getting my offense moving, and I think I've done that a lot better this summer than in the past," he said. "A big part of that was getting help from my coaches. They've been tweaking my swing a lot lately, and it's slowly starting to work, and I'm really happy about that.

"I just think hitting is the one thing I've grown the most at," he added. "I've always been a decent defender, but one thing that was always lacking was my offense, and that has really picked up."

Meanwhile, Robinette said he doesn't mind at all when the Beets use him in different defensive roles.

"Actually, it's been kind of fun getting moved around once in a while. You get a different perspective from different positions," he noted, adding that he probably is most comfortable at second base. " ... I really like second base. You have a lot of time (to react) when groundballs come, and there's a lot of action. I think it's fun."

Evans, who will be entering his sophomore year at Rochester College, has appeared in 13 games for the Beets and said he "loves" the experience — extremely challenging though it may be.

"I love summer ball, and I probably won't get to play with more than half of these guys again. I'm (relishing) every moment I can and hoping we can go all the way with it (and win the league title)."

Evans admitted that facing hitters in the GLSCL — many of whom play NCAA Division I baseball — is a big step up from what he's accustomed to.

"I've faced some talent (in this league) that I've never had to face before. I've really had to use what I've already known and what Coach (Kyle) Floyd has taught me, and I've learned a lot, working around these big-time college players," Evans said.

" ... Being a pitcher, I try to attack, but these (hitters) know their strike zone, and if I try to nibble around the corners and they know it's not a strike, they won't swing at it," he added. "I just try to throw strikes and let my defense work behind me. I'm playing with a lot of talented guys."

Not playing for the Sugar Beets this postseason is Bullock Creek grad Z Westley, who began the summer on Saginaw's roster but who left the team after batting .288 with 19 hits, 12 RBIs, and nine runs scored in 21 games.

"Z is a great guy and a good ballplayer, and it sucks when any guy leaves your team. But he was doing well with the bat (while he was with the Beets), and good for him," said Robinette, noting that he is unsure whether Westley will transfer to Central Methodist University in Missouri or remain at SVSU.

Looking ahead to tonight's postseason opener and possibly beyond, Robinette said there's no reason why the Beets can't win a league championship in its inaugural season.

"Anything can happen, honestly. (This league has) a lot of good teams and a lot of good players," he said. "But we've made it this far; we might as well go for it all. I think we'll do all right."

Evans echoed those comments.

"Nobody expected us even to get into the playoffs," Evans said. "Now, we'll take it one game at a time and, hopefully, win all of them. We'll go one at a time and see what happens."